Kanye West News

On February 23rd, BET will be airing their annual BET Honors award ceremony, and they've just announced that Kanye West will be receiving the coveted "Visionary Award." Usher, Phylicia Rashad, John W. Thompson, and Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole will also be receiving the award, all of whom have "made a difference in business, theater, art, music, and technology."

Kanye is well on his way to becoming the most acclaimed artist of all time. While appearing in this Rolling Stone article is undoubtedly one of Ye's more low-key honors, it does serve as a reminder of how influential he is, not just in hip-hop, but in music as a whole.

Many of hip-hop's most classic albums have one thing in common: they were all produced (mostly) by one man. Dr. Dre, J Dilla, the RZA, Kanye West, Madlib, and many more have all laced MCs with a collection of beats that create a cohesive aesthetic through which full LPs can thrive. Singles and one-offs are cool, but to compile 10+ tracks and keep it dope the whole way through makes you a master of hip-hop.

When hip-hop began, samples were all that DJs and producers had to construct instrumental tracks with. They'd dig through crates of vinyl trying to find isolated drum breaks, melodies or vocals that they could repurpose for use in hip-hop music. Today, sampling has become less common, but a choice sample can still push a track from lukewarm to hot faster than you can say "uh-huh honey".
This week, see who Rae Sremmurd, Key Wane and PARTYNEXTDOOR sampled on their recent tracks, all of which can be found on HNHH.

According to a report in the New York Post's celebrity news and gossip column Page Six, a source close to Kanye West is making the claim that Yeezus is about ready to put down the mic and focus on fashion.

If you're live in New York, you probably avoid Times Square at all costs, but tonight may be an exception. The World AIDS Day concert is taking place, and a few big names are showing up to raise awareness -- including none other than Kanye West.

Fashion has always been a very big part of the hip hop and it is only getting bigger. Today we are witnessing a number of rappers who treat style as an important part of their career and lifestyle. Not only are they wearing the latest collections, they are also being invited into the fashion world. Many of these rappers are frequents guests of Fashion Week whether in New York or Paris.

TOP TRACKS BACK, TOP TRACKS BACK.
After a brief hiatus, our weekly rundown of notable and popular releases has returned.
Please keep in mind that Top Tracks highlights a hand-picked assortment of the most popular songs on our charts. These are songs that generated a lot of interest and still deserve a second look or a deeper consideration. For tracks that deserve more love than they got, go check out Underrated Audio.

Kanye West generally isn't the most cooperative person with paparazzi, but over the last year or so he seems to have lightened up considerably. On his way through the airport today, he even laughed at a question regarding whether he would oil himself up for a shoot, Kim-style, before actually giving the reporters an exclusive on his latest fashion ventures.

When hip-hop began, samples were all that DJs and producers had to construct instrumental tracks with. They'd dig through crates of vinyl trying to find isolated drum breaks, melodies or vocals that they could repurpose for use in hip-hop music. Today, sampling has become less common, but a choice sample can still push a track from lukewarm to hot faster than you can say "uh-huh honey".
This week, see who Flying Lotus, Thelonius Martin and Pusha T sampled on their recent tracks, all of which can be found on HNHH.

Kanye West has been juggling a lot as of late. He’s been raising his fashion-forward and absolutely adorable daughter, tearing down numerous Fashion Week shows, designing his capsule collection for adidas and putting the finishing touches on his as-of-yet untitled seventh solo album. Aside from all of that, Ye has also reportedly been busy executive producing forthcoming albums from Tyga and French Montana. If history is any indication, it’s safe to assume that we should have a lot of good music (no pun intended) to look forward to within the next few months.

Theophilus London's album Vibes, released last week, is surely the Brooklyn rapper's biggest project to date. With Kanye West as an executive producer and a guest on one track, this was certainly primed to be more of a "big deal release" than Timez Are Weird These Days, the 2011 album that was Theo's last official project. Despite that, Vibes sold 2,718 copies in the US in its first week.

Yesterday, an image of a purported tracklist for Kanye West's next album began circulating, and like any sane group of people who think they've got a new, legit Yeezy tracklist on their hands, the internet promptly freaked out. Unfortunately, a rep for Kanye has come out and said, straight up, "This is bogus."

Who is Theophilus London, anyways?
The Brooklyn-based, Trinidad-born 27-year old isn't really an MC, but he doesn't really sing all the time either. He cares about The Smiths more than he cares about Gang Starr and for some reason all of this attracts the likes of Kanye West to take on the roll of executive producer on his newest album Vibes.
He's released a few mixtapes and a debut album, Timez Are Weird These Days, that generally received lukewarm reviews. Now he's back, three years later, with another effort.

Love him or hate him, we all know that Kanye West is always an entertaining character. Whatever the situation, when he is on TV, you need to be tuning because he will most likely to be the talk of hip-hop (as well as non-hip-hop) sites the next day. We can always trust Kanye to be honest, and say it like it is.

When Vibes officially drops tomorrow, it will mark Theophilus London's first project since 2012's Rose Island Vol. 1 tape. Working on the project with Kanye West, who executive produced the album, London had some stories to share with us when he visited our NY office recently.